South Asia correspondent at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald

Negombo Prison on Sri Lanka's west coast, where most of the failed asylum seekers returned from Australia are sent. Photo: Ben Doherty

Australian government officials launched a campaign in June last year warning would-be asylum seekers living in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu that they would be sent back to their Sri Lankan homeland if they tried to enter Australia without a valid visa.

''This has been a brilliantly organised campaign,'' said S.C. Chandrahasan, a leading Tamil refugee advocate who has worked closely with the Australian government over the past 12 months.

''The Australian government began in Delhi and has worked down, slowly and diligently, through every level of Indian government and refugee organisations to get the message through that if you get on a boat without a visa, you will be sent back to Sri Lanka.''

Mr Chandrahasan said one of his major concerns for Tamil refugees living in Tamil Nadu is that by leaving India through illegal means, they are giving up everything they have built up in India over the past 30 years.

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''We have land here, we have homes, we have electricity, we have education, and every time someone gets on a boat to go to Australia without a visa, we are losing that, and that is what I am trying to prevent.''

Mr B. Anand, the Tamil Nadu principal secretary and commissioner for rehabilitation and welfare of non-resident Tamils, also told Fairfax Media it was his clear understanding that it was official Australian government policy to return all Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka.

''I have regular meetings with Australian High Commission officials here, and this is what they have stressed to me, that Tamil refugees will be returned to their home country, Sri Lanka.''

Mr Anand said India was not able to accept any Tamil refugees who left India illegally.

''The war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, so it is difficult to accept that these people can still claim refugee status,'' Mr Anand said. ''And if they were registered here as refugees, once they leave the country illegally, we cannot take them back here.''

Mr Anand's office showed Fairfax Media a pamphlet in Tamil published by the Australian government that has been distributed throughout the Tamil refugee community and clearly states that people who try to enter Australia without a visa will be returned to their homeland.

''Effective from July 19, 2013, illegal immigrants who come by boats to any province of Australia will be sent to Papua New Guinea,'' the pamphlet says. ''Upon confirmation that they are genuine cases for refugee status, they will be allowed emigration at Papua New Guinea.

"In other cases, people concerned will either be sent back to their homeland or a detention camp.''